“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
I fully realize that it is the first of August, but I still wanted to put together a quick, or at least as quick as I can put forth, update about us and just what we've been up to the last two and half months. I also realize that my last post was somewhere in early May. What can I say? We've been busy. Crazy busy. I can't say that I've had a string of days where I had time to sit down and type and if the time was there, the desire was to be elsewhere, far from the confines of a screen and a keyboard. There is too much of that during the regular part of the year and when it's summer and you're a teacher, you've got to suck the very marrow out of the time you have off because just as the time off has begun, you can almost hear it ending like a huge freight train way off there in the distance. And I don't care who you know, who you read, or what you really think, but teaching is, in my humblest of opinions, one of the hardest professions out there, except that instead of pay compensation and complete respect, all you really get is more requirements from the school, or the state, or both and a longer list of people who think you've given up on life, which is why you're teaching, or a very long list of people who think you're lazy, which is why you teach, and a very, very long list of people who think you are getting paid too much to just work a few hours each day and then get a, "two month vacation…man, I wish my job gave me two months off…". I'll gladly take your engineering gig that's 50 hours a week where you sit at a desk and wonder at times if you can stretch your latest project out a little longer in order to have something to do with my classroom of 20-30 kids, all at different learning levels and abilities, for even just 50 minutes and you are responsible for EVERYTHING that goes on in that room. I'll even "settle" for your week off where you are off and can afford to go somewhere. Most teachers go for the ole' "staycation" because being at home is affordable. I'll end my little rant for now. Hope you enjoy the post. You're probably reading it at work and getting paid by the hour. I hope for you it's overtime pay. My brother in law makes about $30+ an hour during these times. I usually work about 15-20 hours of overtime or weekend time, but my time is considered an investment in the future. I can only dream of being paid for this type of investment. I know, I chose this vocation and I was not in it for the money, but I'm sure you'd get this feeling too if you worked so very hard, made so very little, and then had to hear at least once a week from someone one of the above things and then had to hold your tongue after they told you of being bored at work.
BUT…I guess before I dive into it, I'll say one more thing. Mel, FH, and I had one sole and single goal for this summer. We had, as Mr. B. H. Obama, says so often about so many different things…."we had a laser-like focus"…on this one, solitary goal. (One a side note, it must be a dangerous place at the WH to have so many lasers pointing around.) And the goal was this: Make this summer 100% better than last summer. That may sound like a hard task, but when if you knew what a special piece of the hot place our last summer was, you'd quickly realize that we could do almost anything and it be a full 100% better than last summer. Don't get me wrong, we had so much help and so much generosity, etc given to us last summer, but no one wants to work basically 6-7 days a week for three full months completely ripping out everything in a house and building it back again and doing about 90% of the work yourself and be fresh off so many other personal and emotional traumas and just have to put those on the back burner so the work can go on and at the same time attempt to fill out somewhere around 250-300 job applications in all your 'free time" and then try to shower quickly and scrub paint off your hands to look nice for an interview and then leave the interview, knowing that you had to have a job, any job, because money was low and your last paycheck was going to soon run out, and head back to work. It really was a fresh piece of hell. I'd wish it on no one. So…we just wanted a better summer. We needed it. We had to have it. It was a need and not a want.
Apollo 12
I ended my first year at Tiftarea Academy and God was so gracious and faithful to us, as usual in spite of our great unfaithfulness, and had them ask me to stay for another year. A huge gigantic sigh of relief was had here at the Otter Creek Camphouse when my signature was on the new contract, that contained a small raise, my first in over seven years, and it was handed in. But the end of the school year resembled the reentering of one of the Apollo space modules back into the Earth's atmosphere. No, I wasn't one of the semi-terrified astronauts who hoped the space capsule would hold together and splash into the ocean. No, I was the space capsule burning. Or at least that what it felt like. With track & field finishing up and me bearing the brunt of the responsibilities of head coach as an assistant, and exams, and last minute meetings, and budgets, and inventories, it seemed like every day brought with it another checklist of things I was suppose to finish before I left, but would take me so long to finish even a single line of the lists. And I haven't even mentioned the grading of the exams, but I'll let you do the math…say you have 115 students and each exam that is given has over 100 questions on it and most of them are not multiple choice and private schools don't have scantron machines, how many questions do you have to grade in about fourish days? The answer is around 11,500 give or take a few. But the main thing is that I finished. Barely. I crawled out of my room and limped into the car and drove home. Your first year of teaching is so very hard and if you begin teaching in a new place, you get to live that first year again. I have moved schools four times. I just maybe a professional idiot.
The above pic is not me, but of the never-aging Mark Harmon, of CSI fame, but I followed the end of school with…you guessed it: more school. I was asked to teach summer school and I jumped at the chance because the money was pretty good and we need all the extra money we can get because we are doing everything we can do to pay off all of our debts, save, be wise, etc with the money God has given us. And so just a few days after school had ended, I found myself back in a classroom with three kids who had failed a subject or two. I usually teach science, but they had asked me to teach Algebra I and II. I won't say too much about my summer school experience except that all that you see in the movies or on tv may have a lot of truth to it. The kids are super, super unmotivated. The teachers are there for money or obligation and are also unmotivated. There is literally no one else at the school. It feels too weird. You make the kids obey the rules, but really if everyone went crazy, there is no one there to say they did. I used to believe that teaching and grading math would be easier than science, but after my little eight day stint as a math teach, everything I thought was wrong. Typical. I really know nothing. Grading math is super hard. After I graded about 2000+ problems, I knew I had been so very wrong in my ignorant assumption. It was one of the most tedious things I've ever done. If I ever had a chance to punish an enemy of mine, this will be my go-to.
The Otter Creek Camphouse in March about to get painted.
During Spring Break, or SB2K15 as the cool kids were saying, we bit the bullet and laid out the cash because of a paint sale at our local Sherwin Williams and began to paint out house. We, as usual, thought we'd just knock it out over the next five or so days and call it a job well done, but we only finished about 70% of the job and then I went back to school and then track went into hyper-drive and the paint stayed in the shed and we did not go back to it. This summer, we wanted to finish what we had started. That sounds a lot more mincing than we are, but when you are painting an old brick house that greatly lacks character in South Georgia and the thermometer stays in the 90's from 8-9 and the humidity sits above 40%, you really try to psyche yourself up and pretend the sun is really not burning you, and making you think weird things, and that, that little bit of paint in your eye actually helps you see better.
Our house mid-March, we didn't get much farther than this.
Inside my father in law's shop. A pre-stain pic of our great shutters.
Our house as of a few days ago.
Overall, we spent about two weeks outside priming, painting, and trying to finish up what we began in March. I will be quick to say we weren't smart about it. We'd sleep a little late, drink several cups of good coffee very slowly, read a few things, play with FH, and then find ourselves looking at the clock around noon saying to each other that we'd best get to it. Smarter folks would have gotten to "it" about six hours earlier and painted before the mercury sat in the high 90's. But we've never claimed to be smart or wise! We've finished about 98% of the painting, my father in law helped us build some shutters that Mel found on the NET that weren't too hard to duplicate, which really added so much to our little house, and we removed the last of an ugly awning that had been put up. Our house looks so much better or at least we think so. We still have a couple full days of touch-ups and last things, but we're so proud of how the house looks. We've done so much work over the last year, but we feel so accomplished knowing in that about a year's time, we completely gutted the inside and rebuilt it and have now painted and redone the exterior as well. It is really beginning to feel like home now in all the right ways. And by "we", I mean my kind and extremely patient and talented father in law, my brother in law, Mel, and a cast of other characters. Just Mel and I could have never done so much in such a small amount of time. And I know some of you watch who too much HGTV and think it only takes about 30 minutes or so to redo a full house and I'll only say that is only true on TV; except in order to be honest, it probably actually only takes about 20 minutes if you subtract the commercials. It'd be good for you guys to stay in that blissful place. It is less painful and much, much cheaper. Sweat equity is no joke. And if Mel were writing this post, you'd get much better pictures and less snarky commentary.
A beautiful and big crepe myrtle blossom. Our little driveway is lined with about 15 of these trees. We didn't plant them, but we are growing them and hoping they'll really add to our place.
A little boy, a fishing pole, some terrible fishing tactics, and some mud all add up to some really good times.
One of the greatest parts about living here can best be summed up from just looking at the picture above. When we lived in Macon, our house sat about 40 feet or less from a very busy road and we were constantly worried about where FH was and what he was up to. But now we live almost a full half mile off the road and are surrounded by open fields, a few ponds, a creek, woods, and a few dirt roads. I cannot honestly think of a better place for a little boy to get to grow up. I know as a little boy, I was fortunate enough to spend many years of my life on just a little bit of this and I loved every second of it and to be honest, I still do. Little Fordy loves the outdoors and as a parent, it seems he gets in so much less trouble outside. He loves the dirt. He loves the bugs. He loves the cows and pointing to so many different things. It is such a blessing to be outside with him. It allows both Melissa and myself to remember how truly awesome it is to be made to explore and to "see" again the wondrous and complex nature that surrounds us. As Mel so often says to those who ask the size of our home, is that what it lacks for in inside space, it fully makes up for in outside space. And as far I am forever concerned, I'd rather have big outside space than thousands of square feet inside. We three people love fresh air and seem to need more and more of it as the days go by. And there are few better ways to end a long day of any type of work than to get to walk down a dirt road with a little boy who stops every few feet to show you something that you'd have been too busy or too shallow to see. If you were to ask me the key to life, I'd have to tell that observation is one of the keys and FH is teaching us to do that again. It is a gift to be taught again to see. We have spent a lot of time outside this summer.
A sunset view from one of the many clay and dirt roads near our home.
One of my favorite parts about summer is that it stays so light for so long. And one of the things I've really loved doing this summer and some of last is to wait till it is about time and then throw FH onto the back of our bike or in our old truck and try to find the steepest hill to catch the sunset and watch the sun go down. It is truly a magical experience and one of the only times we get to see the real color of the sky. This summer, we have chased some pretty great sunsets and each one, even those we only were fortunate enough to catch the tail end of, were more than worth it. Each time it feels as if time slows for a few moments and it is just FH and me at the edge of the horizon. I know how that sounds, but you should give it a try. It is a truly wondrous thing to sit on the top of a hill on the side of a bike or on top of a truck tool box and watch that great big ball of fire descend and have a little boy sitting there sharing it with you. If feels like something you should have spent your whole life doing. Or at least it does to me. We have chased a lot of sunsets this summer and each one was worth it.
A little boy, a bike, and a ball of fading light.
My new to me ride, an old Trek 930.
I'm working up a little post about it, but it is far from complete and I wanted to say a few things about it here, so here it goes. Several months ago, I came to the realization that I needed a different type of bike for the riding that I was doing. Yes, I had a great road bike and the awesome bike I get to ride FH around in, but we live in a very rural area and just to get to the paved road is a half mile ride on clay and some very soft sand. If you've ridden a road bike, you know they can do it, but they just aren't built to do so. I had originally thought my Biria Citibike would be the trick for my multi-terrain life, but after breaking not one, but two spokes on my back tire and a few other components merely riding down some back roads, I knew I had to make a move or spend too much money buying new parts. I sadly sold the Biria, but that gave me the money to buy the above bike and a few of the items I am using to change it into my all-rounder bike that I want and need. It is from 1991 and is a Craigslist deal. My kind parents went and met the "craigslist" killer in a Target parking lot in Central Florida and picked it up for me. It is, or at least I truly believe so, going to be just the type of bike I need for the riding I do around here. I've already ridden it about a hundred miles or so and it rides so well. I can't wait to finish rebuilding it and have really enjoyed learning, or at least trying to learn, how to work on my own bike this summer and have even gotten comfortable doing a few things I used to pay someone else to do.
I tried to do one of those neat pics I see on Instagram and other places where one lays out all their gear or in this case, all my new bike components. I laid out the gear, but then my little helper brought over his magnetic fishing pole and rearranged the items before I could snap a pic. I could've posted the other pic, but this is what my actual life is like.
Pecos, our little cow.
Last summer in the thick of everything else, we adopted a little cow. He had a sad back story. We are suckers for that. Big time. His mother had been sold off without her owners realizing she had, had a calf. He went a full week without food or care. He then was rescued by a farmer who tried his best, but in reality didn't feed him enough. And then enter Mel, FH, and me. A few over-eager, poor, mostly ignorant folks who know less that zero percent of what you should about most things and in the end you have us reading the directions on the side of a cattle milk-replacement bag trying to know how to mix it and then feed it to a severely hungry bull calf. Flash forward to this summer and we have about a 400 lb bull calf. We, in theory, are now in the cattle rancher game and Pecos is our game piece. It is a great game to be in and one of the many reason we moved from our life in Macon. We want to farm. We want to have a little, sustainable farm and use the land we have been blessed to live on and near well. And Pecos was a good way to start. It is a real blessing to know where your food comes from. We are working towards knowing exactly where it comes from and have the answer be our own house and land.
A few weeks ago, we waved goodbye to Pecos and sent him off to the livestock sale. It was sad and I didn't get a picture as we worked him through the shoots, and weighed him, and loaded him in the cattle trailer. I thought about it, but it seemed weird. We sold him and it was hard to do, but it wasn't hard to put the money he sold for in our savings account. We have a goal with the cows on this land and we hope to have enough money saved up to buy a cow in the nearest future. And from that cow, several others. It is a good thing to have cows. It is a fulfilling and good thing to work livestock . It is hard, but there is something, older, than I think we'd be willing to say about working cows and being close to cattle or any type of livestock or farm animal. It is very hard work, but it is also very calming and rewarding. It is also humbling to stand beside an animal who weighs near a ton. It is something we are all interested in. And it is joy to get to actually to do; even in small ways. So…goodbye Pecos. You'll always be remembered here by us. You were our first. We'll miss you. We appreciate the start you gave us.
Air FH on the Fourth of July
Another shot of my father in law's shop.
After we had finished up most of our painting, I went and worked for my father in law for 12 days. His business is named, Hunter Industrial Bag Repair. The "bags" he repairs are really these great, big, two-hundred pound behemoths that are made of rubber and are used to line the train cars they use to carry carbon black. Never heard of carbon black? Think of something black that you use. Paint? Ink? Toner? Tires? Brakes? All great products that are made of carbon black or use the product in the process it takes to make them. These giant bags used to break, just like a tire tube in a bike tire does, and then they were thrown away and replaced. My father in law, Mark, devised a way to fix them instead of just throwing them away, test them, and reuse them using a several step process. It's a green business, but he'd probably not own up to it in that way. People that are actually doing things for the environment aren't usually the types you see screaming about it on CNN begging for attention or credit. His little company also fixes the gates and the gate covers that sit under most train cars that haul any type of product and the gate allows anything from sand to corn flow from the car to somewhere else via the bottom of the car. I have worked for him for about a decade on and off. He's a great boss and the job is a good change from my main one. He pays really well and it really helps us each time he has a space for me to work. This summer was no different and I'm so thankful to have this opportunity. Yes, it is really hot in the shop with the temp. sometimes reaching near a hundred. Yes, you get very, very dirty and at times extremely tired and exhausted. Yes, it is manual labor. BUT…where else could I just ask to work and then someone say ok? Where else could I work sometimes and then not most of the time? Not too many places! Where else could I work about a mile from home and be able to come home for a quick lunch with Mel and FH each day. Not really anywhere here. And the best part, is that he works four days a week with each weekend being a three-day one. I should be quick to say that he works here four days a week, but while I spent those three-day weekends resting or working around our house, he was working elsewhere. I'm just glad I have the chance to work there.
Our garden spot.
I have always been nothing less than honest here at this blog and I felt I needed to post the above pic. I had previously posted a pic of us plowing under the above spot and there were more shots of tractor harriers and rich, dark dirt. Flash forward to now and all you have is the above, except this pic is a little old and the weeds are taller. We didn't even plant one, single seed. We plowed. We waited for a bit to let things dry out and we plowed again. We bought a full bag of great seeds. And then I got super busy with school and track and Mel and FH did too. We had big dreams of a garden, but this was just not our year for it. We should have started small, but we're not that wise. We are planning a very small Fall garden. I can promise it will be planted; even if we have to do it at night.
My people. Bae 1 and Bae 2.
FH is one of his most happiest of places.
At the end of July, we got to go to the beach. My very generous and kind parents gave us a week at the beach for our wedding anniversary. We really wouldn't have gotten to go if it hadn't been for that. Weeks at the beach are such a great blessing and so much fun. It is a gift my parents have been giving me for most of my life. Most folks have to get their "beach" in over a single day or a three-day weekend, but since I was about ten or so, I always gotten a chance to spend a full week at the beach. Going to the beach was fun then, and then very fun when Mel and I were dating, and even more fun when we were young and just married, but now that we have FH, it is really too much fun. Going on any trip with a young child is hard and going for a week trip will at times leave you wondering if it is really worth going at all. There is so much stuff to plan, pack, unload, carry into the hotel, remember, etc. However, the moment we see little Fordy so happy to be playing in all that sand and all that water it instantly makes all the preparation and work worth it.
We had a wonderful week at the beach: Ormond Beach. We ate so much seafood and other great food items. We napped. We watched movies. We played on the beach from the morning till almost nine at night. We went out to eat. We played in the resort pool until our hands looked like raisins. We built a thousand and one castles that FH knocked down. We walked on the beach at night. We got to enjoy being around family. I rode my bike on some great rides. We tried to catch a crab that bit my older brother. We ate ice cream twice! And Mel and I went out on a great date the night of our wedding anniversary. We ate hot food and only fed ourselves. We ate slowly. We talked. You know, crazy childless things. It was amazing!
This guy.
My people.
We've been married for nine years now and been together for 13. It mostly feels like I am saying that wrong because it doesn't feel that long and then at times it feels longer. I am so thankful for Mel and who she is and who she has become. She has been so strong through so much. She has been so loving and caring through so much. She has never been too tired to help me or to be a good mom for Ford. I am richly, richly blessed. Our pastor preached a great sermon on marriage a few weeks ago and uttered the phrase that, "marriage continually shows us God's kindness and goodness to us". It really stuck with me. I hadn't thought of it like that before. Yes, marriage is hard. Yes, marriage at times feels impossible. Yes, there are at times so much more hard and bad things than good and beautiful. But when I think about Mel and the last nine years, all I can really see is how good, faithful, kind, and caring God has been to us and and to me through Melissa. At times, I'm an ok husband, but there have been many times when it would have been a thousand times easier for Mel to walk away from it all; especially in the last couple of years. Lesser women would have, but Mel did not. She is strong. She is so wise. She is so loving and caring. She is the wife who stops what she is doing to help me with anything, or to walk down the road, or play catch, or go on a bike ride, or most of all, just listen to my super-long and too-detailed stories of my day. She is the wife is goes without so we can afford other things. She is the mother is sacrifices daily so I can do the job I feel called to do. God has blessed me over and abundantly. I do not deserve Mel, but God gave her to me.
I'll end for now. We have had a great, great summer. It throttled last summer and it's not over! I began XC last Monday. I had forgotten how hot and sweaty I can get while running. It is slowly beginning to feel like the last days of summer are here, but we've still got some time left. Hope you enjoyed your summer Hope you enjoyed the post. I enjoy writing here.
DAVID
